Remember Europe

We have 1 week to go before leaving for Africa. The house is completely unpacked, we are totally unprepared for our return to Australia and entering our last week of work is proving to be somewhat more stressful that it should. So with all this in mind, last weekend Sarah and I flew off to Slovenia for a final weekend in Europe.

I think it's fair to say that Slovenia is not the first choice of holiday destination for most people. We went without any expectations at all and I had little idea of what there was to see in this tiny country. The reason for our trip was to catch up with an old friend, Andrej, who I met in Burma in 2005. I booked our flight with the only intention of catching up for a beer and seeing his slide show of the month we ended up travelling together in Burma. Andrej kindly offered to put us up at his house and entertain us for the weekend. It wasn't until we got there that I realised I had probably not done him justice in giving him only 2 days to showcase his country.

Day 1. Friday, 17th October 2008
We arrived in Ljubljana around 4:00pm on Friday. Andrej picked us up at the airport and took us back to his place where we dropped off our bags before heading to the supermarket to pick up a few items for dinner. I like doing domestic things in other countries because it lets me compare how I live to the lives of others. I liked that in this supermarket, there was a butcher letting customers choose what meat they want from big cuts of meat that the butcher would then chop up. It's much better than the prepackaged stuff in Australia and Britain. It was also a relief to see chocolate bars back next to the checkout where they should be. I can't understand why they don't do this in the UK and I have come to the conclusion that the Union of Fatties protested that the temptation was to great so they banned impulsive chocolate shopping in Britain.

After dinner, a few drinks and a quick viewing of Andrej's Iranian photos we went in to town for a few more drinks. I have learned a very important lesson in Ljubljana - never touch a drink that has an overly ridiculous name. A cocktail called a 'Wicky Wacky Woo' will leave you wicky wacky wasted.

Day 2. Saturday, 18th October 2008
In the morning we headed into Ljubljana city centre and walked around the city for about 3 hours. There is a nice little market in the centre of the city, which we walked through and then we caught the cable car up to the Ljubljana Castle. Riding the cable car was an amusing first for Andrej who felt the new funicular was a huge waste of money.

Unfortunately the castle tower was closed for repairs so we didn't get to go in and see the best views of the city. After a few photos at the top of the castle we walked back down the hill and again into the markets where I was able to try some roasted chestnuts for the first time before heading back to Andrej's for lunch.

Photos of Ljubljana city centre

After lunch we drove from Ljubljana to the seaside town of Piran. Here we went up to the city walls on the hilltop for a view of sunset before going into town for dinner. After dinner we went back to Andrej's girlfriend place for the slideshow of the 2005 Burma trip. It was good to see a holiday I enjoyed so much through the lens of someone else.

Photos of Piran

Day 3. Sunday, 19th October 2008
After a later than planned start, we got in the car and headed back inland to Bled. The main attraction here is a lake with a church on an island and a castle on the hilltop. Because of the slow start to the day we didn't get to spend much time here however it was still a great place to stop and have cake in the afternoon. After our stop here it was time to go back to the airport and head back to London.

Bled Castle

Lake Bled

Slovenia was a really nice country to visit. I think it helps having a local guide and it was great to catch up with Andrej. I've been invited back for a week and when I return to Europe next year I will head back and see the country again.

One of my favourite things about Bavarians is they love their food to be big and excessive. The beers are big, the pretzels are huge and any serving of meat will always arrive man-sized.

Oktoberfest fits right into the theme of big and excessive. This was my second year attending the festival and despite being a little more restrained with the drinking this time around, it was equally as enjoyable as last year and I can easily say that this is at the top of my fun festivals list.

My latest trip to Munich was for 3 days over the last weekend of September. Thanks to a little bit of fog over Heathrow, which delayed my flight for about 4 hours, it ended up being closer to a 2 day trip as Saturday was a write off.

On the Sunday my brother took us up into the Alps for coffee and a cake by the lake. This ended up being one of those occasions where you feel like you've stepped into a postcard or a billboard advertising a German beer. Fresh air, great scenery, good company and life couldn’t get any better.

At the end of a very relaxing day it was off to Oktoberfest. There is nothing more satisfying than a holiday meeting expectations.

Beer tent from the outside

Beer tent from the inside

Dancing on the tables

Returning to London on Tuesday morning was difficult. Note to self for next year:
1. Don't book a 9:00am flight the morning after Oktoberfest because getting up at 6:00am to get the train to the airport is difficult.
2. Catching a plane back to London city airport is embarrassing because everyone else on the flight will be wearing a business suit and they don't really appreciate people still smelling like beer festival.
3. Take the day off because work colleagues also don't like sitting near smelly beer fest man.

With our current working holiday visas coming to completion at the beginning of November, we have decided to make a visa run back to Australia to change over to the Highly Skilled Migrant Visa programme and come back to the UK early next year. We are in the unfortunate position of being in the UK during a major change to the visa laws so our original plans of switching in country were ruined and we found ourselves in the frustrating position of having to fly home just to complete some paperwork.

Making the most of this annoying situation Sarah and I have decided that we will take a holiday in southern Africa on the way back to Oz and then stop over for a couple of weeks in Japan on the return trip to the UK. The addition of these stop over holidays has changed our attitudes from being angry about the needless waste of time and money to now really looking forward to getting some sunshine and going on Safari.

Our trip is as follows:

I've also been lucky enough to come to an arrangement with my work that they will contract me to continue providing services to them remotely. This is really the icing on the cake for this trip because now I can work a few hours a day from Australia, get paid pounds (against a majorly weakened Aussie dollar - thank you credit crunch), work on my tan and, if all goes to plan, take a road trip around Australia over the summer. If it is successful I am hoping that this remote working model can be applied when I come back to the UK and that it will allow me to do even more travel then the odd weekend.

A few weeks back I went to the Notting Hill Carnival in London. Given that this is supposed to be the second biggest carnival in the world I think this is one of the most disappointing I've been to. The reason - to many people.

Right from the minute I got off the train I was stuck in a slow moving mass of people. Travelling mapless it took about 3 hours to find the actual Carnival route. Most of that time was spent with my face in someone's back, slowly shuffling forwards and sideways.

I liked seeing a few entrepreneurial locals advertising the use of their toilet for a fee or selling drinks from their front fence.

The carnival parade was disappointing. I must admit, I could only stand it for 30 minutes but it was simply a case of lots of noise, lots of drunks and a trail people following a truck. I can only assume I missed the good stuff while I was lost in the crowds earlier in the day.

The afternoon wasn't a complete write-off. I can cross the carnival off my list of things to do and not bother with it next year, which I think is what most Londoners do. To finish the day Sarah and I had a nice long stroll through Hyde Park back to the city and had dinner in China Town.

When I told my colleagues I was going to Belfast their first response was 'Why?' followed by 'You know its dangerous.'

There are two reasons I booked a trip to Belfast. 1. It is probably the cheapest place you can fly to from London. 2. Countries and cities with a troubled past are usually the most interesting to visit.

It has become standard that I arrive in a new city and have no clue what I intend to do. We arrived very late on a Friday and spent the evening in the hotel bar. This was partly because we were starving and we were told no restaurants would be open and partly because the first thing I wanted to do in Ireland was have a Guiness. Over a pizza and a beer we decided our plan of attack would be to spend Saturday doing a coastal tour and Sunday we would walk around the city before going home in the evening.

The main thing I wanted to see on the North Antrim Coast road was the Giants Causeway. To get there we signed on to a bus tour for the day, which was actually really good. The first stop on the tour took us to Carrickfergus Castle, a 12 century castle where William III first set foot in Ireland in 1690. Given my crappy knowledge of British history this was more importantly an opportunity to add to our collection of photos entitled 'John and Sarah in Front of a Castle.'

Sarah looking for William III

On the way north we traveled through many Glens and with each one we wondered why we were wasting our time in London when we could be living in a beautiful little village by the sea. The next main stop was at Carrick A Rede, which is famous of a little rope bridge connecting the mainland to a small fishing island. Sarah and I were one of the few people on the tour who decided to take on the time limit on our stop here and tackle the queues and the kilometer walk to get to the bridge. We did have the advantage that we were also one of the few people on the bus under 75 years old.

The rope bridge at Carrick A Rede is only about 15 metres long and it can only hold 8 people at a time. Despite it only taking about 10 seconds to cross, it was fun and the time limit on our stop turned it into a game of will we make or will we be walking back to Belfast.

We ended up making it back comfortably, I think we had about 5 minutes to spare. Next stop on a tour was a a pub in Ballintoy for a Guiness pie then back on the bus and we were off to the Giants Causeway.

The Giants Causeway is a geological formation where hexagonal shaped stones have formed leading out to sea that look as if they are a man made path. Irish folklore says the causeway was built by a giant, Finn MacCool, to challenge a Scotsman to a duel. You can read more on that here under the section of The Giants Causeway. The formation itself is fascinating and in some places it really looks man made.

The rest of the bus ride back to Belfast was a little less interesting. We stopped at the Bushmills distillery but because we don't check our bags in when flying we were unable to buy anything because of the 100ml liquid limit. We also stopped for a look at the ruins of Dunluce Castle before finally making it back to Belfast.

Belfast on a Saturday evening was a strange place. It seemed that there was nothing but bucks nights and hens night attracting people to the city. Sarah and I felt the odd ones out with Sarah not wearing a tiara and me not wearing some sort of giant penis costume.

One thing that non-British people should be aware of in Northern Ireland is that, despite the guidebooks saying they use British pounds, when you withdraw say GBP200, you get some crazy Northern Irish Pounds. Not what you want in large quantities and I wish I knew about that before going to an ATM thinking it didn't matter if I withdrew to much. I was however able to swap all my cash at the Indian restaurant were we had dinner.

Sunday was a slow day. We planned to walk around the city and do a tour of the areas that have previously been part of the 'Troubles'. However, finding anything open before midday on Sunday was almost impossible. We ended up walking the empty streets for a couple of hours before having breakfast in a cafe at midday. We then jumped on the CitySightseeing Bus to do a lap of the city. It was a real eye-opener to see the wall murals, Shankill Road and Falls Road and the big dividing fence between the two.

Wall Murals across the road from our hotel

These streets run almost parallel to one another and I wasn't aware of the close proximity the Unionist and the Republicans had to one another. I can remember back to the 80's and 90's and the IRA featured regularly in the news so I found this really interesting to see. The bus tour also takes in a few other interesting places like the titanic quarter and the national parliament.

I really liked Northern Ireland and Belfast. The people were very friendly and everyone we met wanted us to take back the message that the troubles are a thing from the past. I have no problems recommending that people go and visit.